10-01-05

                Had a quiet day. After breakfast, went over to Woodelf-ville, Michael and a couple of his friends agreed to help me with my archery. “Before” I only ever fooled around with it at the occasional SCA gathering, but now, well, we’re not going to be able to find ammo forever. After lunch I spent some time meditating in the temple. Then I spent some time with Malcolm. I think that he is becoming more comfortable with his responsibilities.

                Shortly before dinner, Olivia returned from the Springs. Not only did she have Cordelia with her; she’d also brought some of the Drow who’d been living in the hills west of town.

                That set me to thinking, Olivia has more of her “kind” to be around, so do Michael and Vesta. But so far, There is Anij and just a few other “Golds” around here, at the House. The odd thing is, it doesn’t seem to bother me, much. I mean, everywhere we go, Olivia asks about her kind. Michael never did, but as soon as there were a fair number of the Wood types here, he and Vesta took off with them. They’re not far from the House, but they definitely have their own community. I seem to be fine with whomever I’m around, be it Olivia and her crew working on magic, or out at Woodelf-ville working on my archery. I sometimes wonder if my childhood isn’t still affecting me? I mean, since I never really had “my own kind” to be around before, why should the lack of it bother me now?

10-02-05

                Another quiet day! Spent some time at the “clinic”, but apart from some minor injuries, they were having a very quiet day. So after gossiping the morning away with Izzy in the kitchen (she’s got the dirt on everyone!) I had lunch and went back to see the Woodelves to continue my archery lessons.

                After dinner I had a couple come to me and ask if I would officiate at their exchange of vows. They said they didn’t want a “wedding” because that all seemed so distant now. What they want is some kind of celebration to mark the occasion of their commitment to themselves, to each other and to the entire population of the House. Not only are they “getting hitched” they had also both been accepted by Malcolm's Marshall into the Kingdom’s Army.

                They are so serious about defending us from the “Outsiders” that I’ll have to reflect that in the ceremony. So I spent several hours with them, doing some preliminary planning. I’ll have to get together with Izzy to see what she can provide in the way of a feast.

10-03-05

                Well, looks like winter is back! With little or no preparation, the flakes started flying this afternoon. I had spent the morning out with the Woodelves again, (they are being very patient with me, by the way) and it looked like snow, but it just didn’t have that “feel” to it. Came back for lunch, and was in the kitchen having tea and talking to Izzy, when some of the little ones came in laughing and yelling about the snow. Izzy and I went to take a look, and we both agreed, looks like it’s gonna be a good one. So I spent the rest of the afternoon pulling all my “woolies” out of storage. After dinner, a bunch of the musicians got together and we ended up playing awfully late. Guess we all had that “we can sleep late tomorrow, since we’ll be snowed in” feeling. And now, my fingers are so sore! I’ve lost almost all my harp calluses. A sure sign that I’ve been skipping practice time!

10-04-05

                Snowed all last night and all day today. So I was a big, ol’, lazy slug! Slept late, spent some time meditating in the Temple, and had a short session with Malcolm. He seemed to be reflecting the weather in his mood today. He was dwelling on Stephanie again. When I saw I wasn’t going to get him out of it this time, I asked one of his pages to bring him a good lunch and went to go get my own. I had just finished when Wormy told me that Olivia had asked for me at the Tower. When I got there she told me that she was planning on going into seclusion for quite some time. She was going to perform a ritual that would “Bring her up to her full potential as a Drow”. She wanted me to know that she needed to be completely undisturbed and asked if I would see to that and if I was okay with handling any emergencies that may pop up.

                So she retired to the top level and her students and I to the ground level. I left word with Malcolm’s pages that Olivia was indisposed and that I could be found for at least the next 24 hours at the Tower. I spent the day studying the Book Of Mormon that I got in Montrose, I hope to find something that we will be able to use against them. When a pair of her students wanted to try some new magic they had been working on, I sent them to the Temple, to make sure the magic wouldn’t disturb Olivia in any way.

                It’s just short of midnite, the House has been quiet all day, it’s still snowing, Olivia is still upstairs and I can “feel” the magic she’s generating. I guess it’s time for me to get a little sleep.

10-05-05

Yep! You got it. More snow. But not much more today, just on and off again. But it was definitely colder. 

                Olivia finally emerged late this afternoon. She looked exhausted. She looked……better. Her color seems to be darker, her hair whiter, and her eyes seem to glow even more than they did. She seemed, I don’t know, sleeker? Not thinner, but more muscular, more lithe. Dare I say, even more intimidating?

                When I sensed the magic had stopped and that there was stirring upstairs, I sent Wormy and Jennifer to Izzy with a request for a special meal. As usual Izzy was perfect! She sent a big serving of a fresh elk roast she’d been cooking. Bread fresh out of the oven and some of our hydroponics groups freshest fruit. I sent one of Olivia’s students to the Dwarves with a request for some of their finest beer. I know Olivia doesn’t like beer all that much, but I knew it would do her good. And she snarfed it all! When I could see that she was going to be okay, and had Jennifer and Wormy to take care of her, I headed for my own dinner, a hot bath and my own bed.

10-06-05

                 Well it stopped snowing sometime during the night (thank goodness) so Izzy put out a call for volunteers to start clearing it away from traffic areas. Actually, it was kind of refreshing, and down right funny when we took a little break to watch a team of the Dwarven engineers trying to figure out how to rig a snow plow blade in front of a team of horses, but, damned if they didn't get it done! I had gone back in to get some hot tea, when a summons came from Malcolm. Seems the people from Durango radioed to say they were bringing in a messenger from Alamosa, and they had reported that he was half-dead from exposure. So I asked Izzy to see about sending warm food, tea and lots of blankets to the council room. When I got there it was just me and Olivia, seems Michael and Vesta are still snowed in, out in Woodelf-ville, and Sierra was nowhere to be found. We got there just in time to here the poor guys report. He was a watchman on duty when a large group of hostiles hit Alamosa. He said they were big (some 8 feet tall), green and had fangs. (Sounded to me like the Lawyer-Orcs we ran into before!) They got thru the outside wall by using explosives, and then they just rammed their trucks into houses, killing anybody in their way, and grabbing what they wanted and throwing it in the vehicles. He said his watch commander gave him the only horse they had and sent him towards Durango. He ran the horse into the ground, but made it the rest of the way on foot. Boy was he in bad shape - frostbite everywhere, so Olivia and I worked together to heal him up, then we sent him off with one the "orderlies" from the hospital.

    Malcolm asked if Olivia and I would head to Alamosa and do some scouting, He was very clear and definite with us, “JUST gather some intelligence. Do NOT engage them unless there is no other choice” he assured us that he would be right behind us with a fighting force. He made us promise more than once that we would follow his instructions. I told Olivia that I got the distinct feeling he didn’t quite trust us!?!?!

As we were coming out of the council room, we found Alfred waiting for us. (At the risk of incurring the wrath of Olivia, it is really cute the way he follows her around). Olivia told him what was going on, and when he heard that it was just the 2 of us going out, he insisted on coming with us. So Olivia sent him to have Wormy pack up the necessary stuff for the two of them and I headed to the Temple to get my stuff. We loaded the Scooby-Van with all our supplies and headed out .Not too far from the House, we spotted a herd of some odd looking creatures. They resembled caribou, but were bigger than moose, and had some really funky antlers. I thought they looked like something right out of Clan of the Cave Bear! Alfred radioed back and suggested that some of our “Ranchers” might try taking them back to the House for a breeding herd.

We got to Alamosa with no real problems at all, creature or snow. When we reached a hill that overlooked the town, we stopped to do some observing. From what we had been told, we were expecting complete destruction, but that wasn’t what we saw. We could clearly see their defensive wall, there appeared to be “normal” activities going on, and there was little apparent damage to buildings. And on top of that, the roads had been neatly cleared of snow. Most definitely not what we had expected to see. Olivia and I turned to each other and at the same time said, “This just reeks of a trap”. Alfred couldn’t agree more. We had spotted a farmhouse on the outskirts, a little further west of where we were, so we decided to hide the Scooby-van there and move closer on foot. Olivia was just pulling up to the house when the HUD in the van started flashing and hooting at us.  It had detected 2 incoming mortars headed right at us! Olivia tried to get the Scooby-van moving, but apparently when we left the road we ended up in a bunch of mud under the snow, so we just fishtailed around. But we got lucky, the mortars landed on either side of us, or we thought we’d been lucky, ‘cuz then the HUD started carrying on again, this time it was income vehicles. Olivia told Alfred to take the wheel, while she manned the guns and I took the flame-thrower. Alfred managed to get us back on the road just in time to see some cop cars, flatbed trucks with “troops” on the back, and a couple of Hummers come screeching up. Somebody with a bullhorn ordered us to identify ourselves or they would start firing. I noticed then, that they were flying a Kingdom banner. So, still afraid that this might all be a trap, Olivia challenged them right back. They gave the correct answer, so I yelled out to them that one of their people had managed to make it to Durango, and we had come to help them. They seemed to relax then, so we got out to find out what was going on.

They told us that the Orcs and what had to be Ogres had taken off after they were finished with their looting. That they had taken a group of children as hostages to ensure that they wouldn’t be followed and/or attacked. The Orcs had come out of a house each holding a child with a knife to their throats; they had told the gathered people that if they were allowed to leave, the children would be left 5 miles outside of town. Since they really had no choice, the townsfolk let them go, and, believe it or not, the Orcs actually left the kids, unharmed, where they said they would. In fact, the kids had overheard them arguing amongst themselves. A couple of the Orcs wanted to go ahead and kill the hostages, but the leader (a big ol’ Ogre) insisted that they leave the kids unharmed because then the “townies” would know “THE NEXT TIME” they did this that they could be trusted. If they killed the kids this time, they wouldn’t be able to use the same tactic.

Well, we were already planning to go after them, but if they are actually planning on making this part of a regular routine, they have to be stopped. A bunch of the townsfolk were willing to go after them, too. So we radioed the House and told Malcolm what was going on, and that there were some volunteers waiting for him here, he told us that he was ready to leave in the morning with his forces to march to Alamosa, pick up their fighters and follow the Orcs. We told Malcolm that we were going to go after them first thing in the morning, to track them for the fighters. Once again he made us promise not to attack them all on our own. So we did, and I think we might have meant it!

The Alamosa folk told us that they had heard after the Orcs left there they went up to Monte Vista and hit them in the same way, then headed East. When we said that we were going to go to Monte Vista to see if they had more info for us, they suggested that we just drive right up to the gates instead of sneaking up on ‘em they way we did here, apparently, we made them cranky! But they did invite us into town for a place to sleep and a hot shower. Before I bed down for good, I’m going to spend some time meditating, and offer up a prayer to Correlon, I think that before this is over, the 3 of us are going to need His help.

10-07-05

                We left at first light and our first stop was at the San Luis Valley airport. It looked like some people moved in there quite some time ago, using planes and parts of planes to build shelters. When we stopped to talk to them they weren’t very helpful. Truth be told they were just plain mean. Swore that the Orcs were no problem to them, and wouldn’t even give us information unless we traded for it. So we headed back to the main road. Our maps told us that the next place we would come across was a little berg named Zinzer.

 It was a ghost town. Lots of damage to the buildings and not a soul in sight. When we did a closer search we found the people. They were all dead and had been dumped in the town’s church. So we did the best we could to neaten them up. And I said a blessing over them, to send them on their way in peace. Alfred radioed back to Alamosa and they agreed to send some people up to bury them properly.

                We found some very clear tracks heading out of town and to the north, so we went north, too. Along side of the road, a few miles up, we spotted someone tied to a barbed wire fence, as we got closer it we saw that it was an Orc. He was all dirty with oil and grease and had been shot at least twice in the stomach. As we approached him, he asked that we kill him. He told us that “The Boss’s” car had broken down and after this guy had fixed it, he made the mistake of getting the upholstery dirty, and this was his punishment. Olivia tried to intimidate him into giving us info, but he was having none of that! He then tried to goad us into killing him, bragging of all the horrible thing’s he’d done. All the sudden, Olivia’s little familiar appeared. She started to prance around the Orc, chirping “Vulpix, Vulpix, Vulpix” over and over again. The orc freaked out! “What the hell is that thing?” he yelled. I said “More important than that, you should have seen what it was before Olivia turned him into that”. Olivia asked me “Whatcha think? Should I turn him into a Smurf?”. “Oh yeah that would be great”. “Maybe a My Little Pony?” she asked. I said “Or even better yet, another Vulpix so Otsune will have a playmate?” That did it, he told us what we wanted. The Orcs are living in some caves under a building at the Great Sand Dunes. Since he told us what we wanted, Olivia finished him off, like he wanted. Alfred almost got sick, poor thing. We radioed both Malcolm and Alamosa to let them know where we were headed. Malcolm again made us promise to be good. What a worrier! I thought he and I had been making some progress on that little problem.

                Before we got to the turnoff for the road to take us to the Dunes, we came upon an accident blocking most of the road. It must have been a head-on between a semi and a Greyhound bus. There were some people with a wagon and one of them had a half-chewed arm in his hand!  Olivia floored the Scooby-van, but one of the cannibals shot out a tire, and since he was stupid enough to just stand there, Olivia shot him for his efforts. Alfred jumped up and used the flame-thrower to take out the ones on his side. Olivia used the guns to take out the ones on her side. When Alfred saw that the three he hit were still alive and burning, he did get sick. So I moved him out of the way so I could get to the guns to put them down. Olivia moved the van up a bit and she and I went back to check out the bus, Alfred stayed and covered us from the van.  It looked like everyone in the bus died, in, or shortly after the crash. And it appeared that the cannibals had been feeding off them for some time. The wagon they had was full of more rotting meat. Alfred discovered that the tanks of the semi were nearly full so he siphoned it into the van. When he was done, he and I gathered up the bodies and stacked them near the bus and using some of the gas, set fire to the whole lot. I had the creepiest feeling the whole time we were dealing with the cannibals, I just knew that they had been dead for a long time. But what could have brought them back from the dead to whatever they were?

 Olivia was poking around the cab of the semi and called us over to see what she found…..a pile of ashes with a skull sitting on top of it. A skull with a big ol’ set of fangs. Well, she just had to have that little souvenir. Alfred did bring up a damn good point though, according to legend; a few drops of blood on the remains of a vampire will re-animate it. So Olivia shrugged and said, “Guess I’ll just have to laminate it then, huh?” We gathered up the few weapons we found and loaded them into the van. Then Olivia and I joined our powers to mend the tire that had been shot out, and set off again.

                As we were approaching the Southern boundaries of the Dunes, we saw a couple of horses pulling an old pick-up truck down the road. The driver spotted us and pulled to the side of the road to wait for us. As we pulled alongside, Olivia was a little more cautious this time and just rolled the window down. The guy says, “Want to trade?” He was completely covered with clothes, even more than the weather called for, not an inch of skin was visible, but he seemed “harmless” so we got out to go around and talk to him. The feeling I felt with the cannibals was NOTHING to the shivers this guy sent down my spine. We asked him what he was, but he wouldn’t say. While Olivia was trading him the guns we had taken from the cannibals for info on the Orcs, I asked Correlon to help me by giving me the sight to “See” what this man truly was. But all I was able to see was that he was most truly and certainly Un-Dead. But I also got the impression that while he is without a doubt dangerous; he was no danger to us, at least not then and there.

                Anyway, when I pulled myself back to the conversation, he was telling Olivia and Alfred that there are about 40 Orcs, being lead by a handful of Ogres. The “brains” of the group is an Ogre, who used to be a biker. They are indeed hiding in caves, under the admin buildings at the Dunes. They are keeping human and changelings as slave labor, and they are running their very own Meth Lab. But to make it even better! They lace the stuff with PCP and then use the finished product themselves before going into battle. They think it makes them invincible. So we thanked him for the info and as he starts to pull away, we asked him for his name. He paused for a bit, gave us a horrible grin and said “Randall”. I am telling you, shivers of pure horror ran down my spine. Olivia and I compared feelings, we agreed, dead, but not dead, and to leave him be for now. He doesn’t seem to be hurting anyone, yet, and everything else that he have run into that was un-dead, attacked us on sight. Maybe he’s something new and different?

                We finally got to the Dunes and found the visitors center that includes the admin building. We watched from as close as we could get without being seen, and right about dusk, a bunch of the Orcs came out of the admin building to relieve the sentries we had seen. But, they also relieved a bunch that had been hidden in pits that we had not seen. We radioed Malcolm to let him know what we knew so far, he’s in Alamosa with the troops and will be heading our way at first light. Seeing that we are just a bit out-numbered, we decided to move in closer on foot and observe some more. So we found a place to hide the Scooby-van, and snuck closer on foot. We’ve decided on watch shifts and mine is just about over, I’ll be waking Alfred soon. But first I must thank Correlon for his help today and to ask for continued assistance tomorrow. These creatures simply cannot be allowed to escape this place to continue harming people.

10-08-05

                Olivia woke Alfred and I just after dawn and told us that there had been another shift change, but only about half as many guards came out this time. About noon, another shift change, and some Humans and Elves were brought out of the same building to do some work in the clearings. They were taken back inside as the sun started to set. We got a call from Malcolm saying that the Calvary was about 20 minutes away, what could we tell them. We told them that the dusk shift change would find the largest number of the enemy out in the open. Malcolm agreed that they would strike then. We told him that while they were doing that, we would take the opportunity to sneak in and get the slaves out of there.

                While we were sneaking around the perimeter, we were a little nosier than we wanted to be and an Orc standing guard alone heard us, Olivia threw some of those magic missiles of hers and took care of it. When we made it to the back of the admin building, we found a fire door (in the immortal word of Han Solo, “There’s always a back door”) but it was locked. Olivia managed to get it unlocked with the tiniest little flare of magic, but when she tried to open it, it creaked, really loud. An Ogre came right at us, so Olivia zapped him, too. It hurt him some, but not enough, he took a swing at us with an axe. Alfred waded right in and hurt him some more with some kind of martial arts moves. I really just wanted to shoot the bastard, but since we were trying to be quiet, I swung at him with my mace, but totally missed him. (I think I’m going to have to have Michael help me with my technique!) Olivia was going to zap him again but something must have distracted her ‘cuz she got that look of panic and had to abort the attempt or hurt herself. The Ogre took the opportunity to swing at her again, and this time he did some damage. Well, that just made Alfred mad, he attacked again and this time the Ogre couldn’t defend himself. While Alfred was moving the body out of the way I took a few minutes to give Olivia the most healing I could before we went any further.

                Once we got inside we listened at another door and heard a couple Orcs inside the room. So Olivia cracked the door a bit and threw a sleep spell on ‘em, and then went in to slit their throats. Thru another door we saw a room with a ladder in the corner leading down. We managed to get down it and into the caves without being seen, and found ourselves in a large cavern filled with supplies. At one end there’s a blackout curtain, and from beyond that we heard noise. So we snuck over to it and peeked past it. There we found their Meth Lab with 4 Orcs working in it. While Alfred held the curtain aside a bit, I threw a Hold compulsion into the room and they all froze, Olivia rushed in and killed them. She then took time to find a bottle of acid to pour over the completed crystal that we found, if they had more elsewhere there wasn’t much we could do about it, but they weren’t going to be using that stuff.

                Behind another curtain on the other side of the lab was a kitchen. Inside we saw some slaves being guarded by only one Orc. Olivia threw some magic missiles at him and as soon as she was done I ran in to reassure the slaves that we were there to help them. We told them to go up the ladder, out the back of the building, and to stay away from the clearing, there was going to be an attack soon.  Thru the next curtain was a dining hall filled with Orcs and at least one Ogre. Olivia summoned Otsune and asked her to throw confusion into the room. Otsune seemed to be awfully disgusted with the request, but she did it anyway. Thru the curtain we could hear them start to argue, then fight, and then they started shooting each other! All the sudden an Orc came stumbling thru the curtain, he was bleeding badly yet managed to look horribly surprised to see the three of us standing there, before he died.  When things got quiet we pulled back the curtain to see what was left. All there was remaining was one injured Ogre. Since with all the gunfire that had just happened, the cat was out of the bag, I just went ahead and shot him. That finished him off.

                From down the corridor, more Orcs and another Ogre started to appear from side rooms. Olivia started firing and killed 3 of the Orcs. Alfred attacked another and killed him. I fired at the Ogre, hitting him a couple of times. Olivia finished him off while I killed the last Orc. Things were pretty quiet for a minute, but the, down at the end of the hallway I spotted a small mirror, taped to a broom handle peeking out of a doorway.  Now, there is now way we could get down that hall to him, and he sure wasn’t going to come to us, so looking around the room I suggested getting a handtruck, loading it with some crates, and using it as a shield. So Alfred piled one with the heaviest boxes he could find and with him pushing it we started down the hall. Good plan right? WRONG!!!!!! All the sudden, what come flying down the hall right at us? A hand grenade!!!!!!!!! We all ducked as it went sailing past us and exploded, we avoided must of the shrapnel, but all 3 of us were bleeding. Olivia took that moment to go charging down the hall! Ran right into a big ol’ honkin’ Ogre! He had an axe ready and swiped her with it, and she went flying across the hall and hit the wall, hard. I yelled at Alfred to close his eyes, and threw all the power I could into a beam of light that I directed at the Ogre. I was hoping to blind it so it would have trouble attacking again, but it worked better that I had hoped, the light actually burned thru the armor he was wearing and injured him.  Alfred went a little nuts and charged him, unarmed. The Ogre ripped him open with the axe, and he fell to the floor.

                The Ogre also had a gun and tried to shoot at me but aimed badly, so I was able to dodge the shots. I could hear Olivia demanding help from Crom, and the next thing I know, there was a giant badger in the hallway, and it started to rip the Ogre to pieces. I took the opportunity to scramble down to where Alfred was and pray to Correlon for some divine help in healing him. I’d felt his heart stop when I sensed Correlon’s power surge thru me and into Alfred, closing the worst of the wounds and stopping the bleeding. Olivia took that same opportunity to launch some missiles at the Ogre, and between that and the badger, that was the end of the Ogre. Olivia said something to the badger and he vanished. Then we kind of sat there for a minute to heal ourselves up a tad, and I apologized, profusely, for the “handtruck charging the hallway” idea. I was helping Alfred to stand when we heard Malcolm’s rather distinctive voice bellowing out the Kingdom’s battle cry. And with that, he and a bunch of others came charging ‘round the corner.

                We gave him a quick report and he sent some troops out to search for more prisoners to be released and to make sure the enemy was taken care of.  Olivia confronted Malcolm, demanding to know where he and the troops had been. Malcolm glared at the three of us, and said “We were waiting for the shift change, like we agreed”. But when they heard all the ruckus we were causing, they went ahead and attacked.

                Wow! Color Olivia and I embarrassed! We thought we were being sooooooo good. Waiting for backup, not just charging in and attacking all by our lonesome, just like we kept promising. And then we blew it anyway! Couldn’t even follow a plan that we devised. We looked at each other and couldn’t help it, we laughed, and to Malcolm we both said at the same time, “Oops? We forgot the ‘wait ‘til the shift change’ part”.

                He looked at us with some serious disgust on his face, and suggested that we work on some communication skills. Trying to lighten his mood a little, I dropped him a little curtsy and said, “But of course, your majesty.” I think I detected a bit of a smile!

                So, as the Calvary was taking care of freeing the slaves, Malcolm joined us as we searched thru the boss Ogres quarters. Malcolm found a pretty hefty amount of platinum. Olivia found a wand made of silver with a hunk of rose quartz on it with an inscription that read “Health and wellness, body and soul. Pronounce blessing on the ill.” Both of us were getting nothing but positive vibes from it, so when one of the troops brought a slave by who had some minor wounds, Olivia held the wand to him and said “Blessing”, a silvery/rosy glow came from the wand and healed the guys wounds! I found some loose gems and some completed jewelry. When I was holding one, a leather thong with a big blue bead on it, I got the most wonderful feeling. I felt calm and secure, and I had the most definite feeling that as long as I wear this necklace it will help to protect me. I believe that Correlon left it there for me to find, an answer to my prayers the last few days, perhaps?

                We helped the Alamosa people load up all the supplies from the cave so they could take them back to their people. And they gave us a ride back to where we had hidden the Scooby-van. We had a nice uneventful ride back to the House. And after some of Izzy’s good hot soup, and a nice hot bath I am now in bed, and after I send a thanks to Correlon for His assistance and His gift, I will sleep in my own nice soft, warm bed.